Here at Pearl my pulse seems slowerwatching the low hum of life that hangsin the afternoon air - it's a great beastthat joins the small creatures with theplants they depend on . . .Those words, taken from a placard that was once located at Pearl Lake State Park, speak volumes to me. This site, founded in 2001, is dedicated to my grandparents, John Kelly and M. Pearl Hartt. It was my grandfather, John Kelly, who pioneered the sheep industry during the Colorado-Wyoming range wars and grew one of the largest sheep operations in the country. It was my grandma, M. Pearl Hartt, who is the namesake of the State Park that was once a summer headquarters to granddad's sheep operation.

Summers at grandma's house are what I remember the most. On what is now the shores of Pearl Lake, my cousin Patrick and I would frog hunt at Lester Creek, long before it bore grandma's name.

I was young - maybe 7 or 8 - when grandma said there would be a lake named after her built by the rangers. At first, I was upset because I feared my frog hunting days were numbered. But grandma and my aunts explained that I could frog hunt at the lake, too.

For the next few summers, we went for walks with the rangers to see the damn and the progress with filling. I remember my Aunt Pearl taking a time-lapse photo of the moon over the lake one summer, shortly after the lake filled.